Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to providing media content, and more specifically, to techniques for embedding data within video content for use in retrieving supplemental content corresponding to a content entity depicted within the video content.
Description of the Related Art
A number of different techniques exist today for delivering video content to users. Generally speaking, existing systems for delivering video content, such as over-the-air broadcasts, cable television service, Internet television service, telephone network television service, satellite television service, satellite radio service, websites, etc., provide a relatively impersonalized, generic experience to all viewers. For example, with respect to broadcast television, all viewers of a given television network station receive essentially the same content in essentially the same order.
In addition to providing the video content to users, content providers can also provide supplemental content that corresponds to content entities shown in the video content. For instance, a particular scene of the video content could show a particular actor playing a particular fictional character, and supplemental content about the particular fictional character could be provided along with the video content. For example, such supplemental content could include concept art and a biography for the fictional character. Moreover, such supplemental content can be shown for other content entities within the video content, such as places, objects, and so on.
Currently, the identification of such content entities within content video and the linking of such content entities to supplemental content are largely manual processes. For example, a user could manually watch the video content and generate data specifying content entities appearing within the video content and a time range(s) at which the content entities appear. The user could further select supplemental information pertaining to the content entity within the video content and could make this supplemental information available when the video content is later viewed (e.g., by inserting a link within the video content to a web page containing the supplemental information). However, such a manual process is inefficient, and moreover such a process is static in nature, as subsequent updates to the selected supplemental information and the links to such information remain manual operations.